Ugly Choices Loom Over Debt Clash

By

Damian Paletta and

Jon Hilsenrath

Updated Jan. 13, 2013 8:26 p.m. ET

The showdown over the nation's debt ceiling could force the government to consider drastic steps to manage its limited cash, including delaying trillions of dollars of payments to employees, Social Security recipients, contractors and others.

The Obama administration has said it has no backup plan to pay the government's bills if Congress refuses to raise the $16.4 trillion federal borrowing limit. The White House said Saturday in a...